♤

That night was hard. Charlie sobbed for hours, crying himself to sleep.

Once he did, it was my turn.

I sat on the cot, starring at the ground, mindlessly.

My thoughts drifting to Dale and the times we had laughed and the moments we had shared together.

Without realising, Dale had become a father to me in absence of my own.

He offered me guidance whenever I strayed from the path.

He offered me a shoulder to cry on when my emotions got too much.

He offered me an ear to listen when the stress began to spill.

And he offered a hand, to lead me when I felt lost.

I sat alone with my thoughts for a few hours before the last person I expected to see stumbled in

"Hey" Daryl muttered. "You alright?" He asked as I ignored his last attempt to engage in conversation.

Again, I didn't speak, or even look at him, "He was a good guy, I know what he was to you" He continued.

"Go away," I muttered.

Daryl ignored me, sitting down next to me. "What I said earlier, about only being here because of my promise to Merle, it wasn't true, truth is, I do care about you both, and I guess I'm scared to admit that to myself"

I looked at him, my expression never shifting, "Why are you telling me this now, Daryl?"

"Seeing Dale..seeing you, the pain of losing him, I never want to hurt you, to make you feel that kind of pain--"

I shook my head, "Daryl..I can't think about that right now, I need some time, we need some time" I sighed, gesturing to Charlie, "He just lost the closest thing to family he's ever had, I have to be there for him, not caught up with our argument earlier and what it really meant, I just--I can't handle that right now.."

My voice was shaking as tears choked me. Daryl nodded, not saying much as we sat in silence. After a few minutes, I leaned against Daryl's arm. "Is this what it is now? The world?" My head was resting on his shoulder as he glanced at me,

"For now, but one day it'll change"

♤

"Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us, the truth, who we really are."

"In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak it. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives, our safety... Our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

Charlie and I stood together, our hearts breaking as we shed our tears for Dale.

Ricks words rattled around me as he spoke.

I glanced around at Daryl who was watching me with sad eyes.

My heart broke even more as Charlie ran away, running towards the tent. Everyone watched, waiting a few seconds before dispersing leaving me stood starring at the grave we had dug. Daryl took a step forward, still staying silent.

Looking at him, I opened my mouth, "I'm sorry about last night, the way I blew you off, it wasn't fair. It's going to take Charlie some time to go back to normal, but I want you there with us, every step of the way.." I smiled, thinking about Dale's words.

Daryl's lip lifted slightly as a small smile shone back at me, he nodded saying nothing else before we looked back at the grave. I took his hand in mine and we stayed.

When we decided to move and head back to camp, it was chaos, we were busy moving things into the house where we were all going to be staying for the winter. Charlie was still hold up in the tent as I packed and moved bags.

Everyone was now wearing jackets, winter was definitely setting in.

We were all lugging bags into the house, our old camp no longer in sight as Charlie sulked and moped into the house.

He disappeared again and I sighed, he was shrinking back into himself. Lori looked over at me, "He'll be alright, he's young, they're a hell of a lot more resilient than we give them credit for"

I nodded, placing boxes and bags down in the living room, Charlie and I in a corner. "Gonna get real cozy in here, real fast" T muttered causing me to chuckle. The first thing to make me laugh since Dale.

Daryl wandered in, heading upstairs quickly, passing Charlie as he did. Charlie came and sat beside me. He immediately retrieved his comic book and sat reading.

Shortly after, Daryl came back down, nodding at me to follow him outside, which I did. "Rick and I are taking Randall, you gonna be alright while we're gone?"

I nodded, "How's he doin?" Daryl asked as I sighed.

"Throwing himself into his comic books, not saying much but wishing he could fix the world" My head dropped as I thought about the pain my son was going through. "I wish I could take it all away, all the pain he felt, everything"

Rick waved Daryl over, signalling that he was ready to leave. Daryl looked at me one last time, "Make sure you get back..." I whispered.

Daryl nodded before heading over to the van. I stayed on the porch, watching them, hoping to wave them off.

T ran over to them, stressed, "Randall's gone"

Their eye's widened as I rushed over, "What?!"

Daryl looked at me, "Get Charlie and stay with him"

"Tell the others, I want everyone looking" Rick demanded as I ran into the house, informing everyone of the situation.

We stood looking for a while until we heard Shane shouting, "Little bastard clocked me, he's armed Rick!"

Everyone looked around at each other panicked. I held Charlie tight, "Everyone get in the house and stay there!" Rick yelled, barking out orders. "Glenn, Daryl come with us"

They nodded, Daryl turned to me, "Stay in the house, don't leave until we get back, alright?"

I nodded before Daryl leaned down to Charlie, "You stay with your mom, alright? Don't leave her side"

Charlie nodded slowly as everyone raced into the house, locking the doors and peering through the windows as the sun began to set.

Soon, it was dark and we were all getting the room prepped for us to sleep.

I had no intentions of sleeping, neither did most of the group, not until they got back. "Shouldn't they be back?" I muttered.

"Don't worry yourself, they'll be back" Hershel smiled as he placed a cover over the sofa.

I nodded, trying to comfort myself as I peered through the gaps in the window.

In the distance, we heard the faint sound of a gunshot, just a single one. It rattled gently against the room as I watched, shortly after, there was another one.

We all looked around the room, our hearts slowly sinking further and further as we anxiously awaited their return..

A/N
I honestly loved Dale so much, he was definitely the moral compass of the group and I think the group would be very different if he was still with them.